Page 31 of Primal Dragon

“I was going to call you,” Henrik said to Cillian.

The vampire deep chuckle filled the speaker. “Were you thinking of me, pet?”

“Fuck off.”

“You’re alive. I take it things went well last night.”

“They did. I ended up partnering up.”

“Oh shit. With who?”

Henrik sat on the end of his bed. “A human with a vampire glamour. Turns out he’s a good friend of James. He was looking into James’s disappearance all by himself. We had to kidnap a human girl. Syrena provided me with a willing human and a way to get her out of there if things go south before we can rescue her. But I also have her coordinates.”

“Handy. That witch of yours is very clever.”

“Tell me about it. We’d be lost without her, in more ways than one.”

“A friend of James, huh? This cat have a name?”

“Q.”

Cillian sighed. “He’s mentioned a Q, but I don’t know anything about him. Are you sure he’s legit?”

“Not really. He was being evasive, not that I can blame the guy. He got a whole lot of magic and dragon politics thrown at him last night. We have another deal soon. We’ll see how that goes.”

“Sounds good. Just watch your back.”

“I’ll keep you in the loop when I can, but Stefano doesn’t give a lot of notice or a list of expectations. I have a feeling he’ll be watching everything for a while until he knows things are going smoothly.”

“All the more reason for you to watch your back. If all you have is a human you’re unsure of…”

“I feel like we can trust him.”

“Your gut telling you that?”

Henrik’s answer was instantaneous. “Yes.”

“All right. Your gut is pretty good, so go with it. I’ll touch base with you soon.”

“Sounds good.”

Now they just had to figure out the next step.

* * *

Stefano calledthem for another task two days later.

Henrik invited Syrena, Cillian, and Q over after he got the text from Stefano.

Q showed up in the vampire glamour, pea coat, and newsboy hat. His face was a little easier to see with more light around them, but his features were masculine and not very distinguishable. Henrik had hoped he would show up with his human face, extend some trust.

“The job is to pick up five females,” Henrik announced.

“Five?” Syrena gaped at him. “That’s ridiculous. Letty said that she’s got at least twenty females with her. She can’t see them all because it’s dark most of the time.”

“It’s time to get her and the other females out of there.” Henrik hadn’t liked waiting this long, but he didn’t want to tip off Stefano and Grey until he was ready to fight them.

“What’s the plan then? If you don’t show up tonight with five girls and sit and have drinks, Stefano is going to know something is up,” Cillian replied.

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